My $12 worth of books

I was lucky enough to attend a library sale a couple of days ago (thank Erin!). Books were $6 a bag (savvy bookworms brought large cloth shopping bags, and carefully packed as many books into each bag as possible). Childrens' books were free. I went armed with about 10 bags (just in case), and enough cash to fill them all (just in case). After spending the whole morning rummaging, I came tottering out of the building, carrying two VERY heavy bags crammed with books - together with a smaller third bag and my hand bag. I didn't know I possessed such strength! My biceps are still sore now. For the sake of books, even the weakest bibliophile finds strength and determination they didn't know was in them. I suppose I could have just been sensible and carried them out to the car one bag at a time. . . hmmm. . . yes. Too late now.

Moving on: it is time to show off my spoils! As I mentioned, I bought just the two bags of books, plus a third bag of free children's books, bringing my total expenditure to $12.

The big hardcover books: The Complete Phantom of the Opera, Myths and Legends of Ireland, A History of Movie Musicals, The World of Rubens, and Alpine Interiors.

The Dickensian books - a biography, Bleak House, and Our Mutual Friend. I already had a couple of copies of OMF, but I bought the extra copy for sentimental reasons as much as anything - it is the exact same copy that I borrowed from the library when I read OMF for the very first time. Besides, it's nice to have multiple copies of favourite classics. Also, I like the cover (which you can't see very well, I snapped these pictures late this afternoon when the light wasn't good), of Keeley Hawes in the 1998 adaptation.

The L.M. Montgomery books. A beautiful, hardcover, illustrated copy of Anne of Green Gables, and an as-new hardcover copy of Anne of Avonlea.

The James Herriot books: James Herriot's Yorkshire, All Things Bright and Beautiful, All Things Wise and Wonderful, and The Best of James Herriot.

The poetry books: Seven Centuries of Poetry in English, Romantic Period Verse, and Selected Poems by T.S. Eliot.

Miscellaneous children's books, including a copy of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

A couple of classics and a couple of children's books. Treasures of Snow, a book from the Chronicles of Prydain series (I still haven't read the first book in the series, but never mind. . .), Romeo and Juliet, and Animal Farm.

Miscellaneous others. The Book of Buildings: A Travellor's Guide, a biography of Frances Hodgson Burnett, Classic Knitted Cotton Edgings, a Francine Rivers book, and The Penguin Dictionary of Surnames - useful for researching one's family history, and for looking up the names of one's celebrity crushes and favourite fictional characters in order to research their family history. Not that I would ever do such a silly thing as that.

I also bought another 10 or so titles, mostly children's picture books - including a couple of Beatrix Potter volumes.

I exercised great self-restraint and didn't buy any National Geographics, much to my mother's relief. I was a little disappointed that there weren't more good books on offer - for every decent book, there seemed to be about 100 Jackie Collins or Dan Brown books. Still, that made finding the few gems even more exciting and worthwhile.

If you're still reading - thank you! Most of my family members, not being book-lovers, were not at all interested in my haul, so it's nice to share my excitement with others who are likely to sympathise with my delight in the treasures I found! :-)